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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29464212">find your way back</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonicneonfishy/pseuds/demonicneonfishy'>demonicneonfishy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>february angst-fest (febuwhump 2021) [15]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:33:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>889</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29464212</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonicneonfishy/pseuds/demonicneonfishy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She’d half been expecting him to argue, or go back for Joe, regardless of what any of them said.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Nile Freeman &amp; Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>february angst-fest (febuwhump 2021) [15]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141784</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>140</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>find your way back</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>day 15 of febuwhump 2021<br/>prompt: "run. don't look back"</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>All in all, the job had gone to shit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their contact had failed to warn them about the </span>
  <em>
    <span>thirty armed mercenaries</span>
  </em>
  <span> their target had as backup. They’d managed the job, but getting out hadn’t been easy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile and Joe had gotten separated from Nicky and Andy a little while ago. Now, they’re hiding from at least twenty shooters, waiting for their inevitable discovery.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Joe risks glancing around the wall they’re hidden behind. “I have an idea, but you’re going to hate it.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“I’ll take whatever I can get,” Nile says. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I need you to run. Run, and don’t look back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>What</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I told you you wouldn’t like it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stares at him, disbelievingly. “I am not </span>
  <em>
    <span>leaving you behind</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can distract them while you get away. Find Andy and Nicky and get the hell out of here. I’ll be fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And if you’re not?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will be. The priority is getting Andy out of here, alive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile sighs. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve been told many times.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How are we gonna find you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rendezvous point 34, two days maximum. Andy will explain. Go, now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <em>But what if he doesn’t make it out? What if he loses his immortality, and this is the last time we see him?</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I hate you,” Nile mutters.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Joe grins. “See you on the other side.”</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>She finds Nicky and Andy surrounded by the other ten shooters. With Nile there, they manage to finish all of them with minimal damage. Nile and Nicky take a few bullets each, but that’s how it is.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You okay?” Andy asks her, leaning back against the wall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where’s Joe?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Keeping the others occupied. I didn’t want to leave him, but… he said you had to get out first.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Andy swears under her breath, and Nicky goes very, very still.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile looks at him. She’d half been expecting him to argue, or go back for Joe regardless of what any of them said. But instead, he just… stops, staring at nothing. Like a statue, if it wasn't for the rise and fall of his shoulders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nicoló,” Andy says. He looks up, and she says something in rapid Italian that Nile can’t quite catch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nods, tensely, and blinks out of whatever trance he'd gone into.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you with me?" Andy asks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes," he says, surprisingly steady.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then let's go."</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Rendezvous point 34, Nile finds out, just means going back to a slightly different safehouse. One which apparently hasn’t been used in years, given the sheer amount of dust coating everything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a system we use if we get separated,” Andy says. “We have specific meeting points. This is number thirty-four.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And the ‘two days’ part?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If Joe doesn’t show up in two days, we go looking for him. But he knows what he’s doing. He’ll be okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile lowers her voice then. “Is Nicky okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d made sure she and Andy were fine, then disappeared into one of the bedrooms without a word, and hadn’t come back in hours.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Probably cleaning his sword or something. He’s fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t seem fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This isn’t the first time this has happened. He won’t fully calm down until Joe’s back, but he’ll manage.”</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>It takes Joe a whole day to reach the rendezvous point, which is far too long.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile opens the door almost immediately, and he wonders how she knew he was coming.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I was </span>
  <em>
    <span>going </span>
  </em>
  <span>to knock, but…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>hate </span>
  </em>
  <span>you,” Nile says, pulling him into a hug. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Never</span>
  </em>
  <span> make me do that again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Joe chuckles. “I’ll try not to, but I can’t make any promises.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulls away and steps aside, letting him enter. “Horrible safehouse choice, by the way. This one’s full of dust.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Next time I’ll try and remember which ones are cleaner, just for you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Joe’s back?” Andy calls from the living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You have such little faith in me, Andromache,” he says. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Andy stands up. “You are an </span>
  <em>
    <span>idiot</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why is everyone being so mean?” Joe complains to nobody in particular.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I’m glad you’re not dead,” Andy finishes, crossing the room to hug him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, boss,” he says before pulling back. “Where’s Nicky?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Had to bully him into sleeping,” Andy says. “You know how he gets.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Sounds about right. Where?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Andy points to one of the doors.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Quietly, Joe enters the room, careful not to wake Nicky, who’s curled up facing the door. He sits down on the edge of the bed and reaches out to shake Nicky gently. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nicoló,” he says softly. “Nicoló, destati.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nicky shifts slightly and blinks awake. “Joe?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Joe smiles at him. “Yeah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nicky blinks again, and then his eyes widen. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Joe</span>
  </em>
  <span>. You’re back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It would appear so,” he says, before Nicky sits up and pulls Joe into a tight hug. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They don’t speak for a little while, just holding onto each other. Nicky runs his hands over Joe’s back, his arms, his ribs - checking for injury, Joe realises. When he finds nothing, he just wraps his arms around Joe’s waist and presses his face into Joe’s shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Joe turns his head to kiss Nicky’s temple. “I missed you too, amore mio.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nicky takes a shaky breath. “Please avoid doing that in future.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll do my best. I made it back, didn’t I?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And if you didn’t?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll always find my way back to you. Promise.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this is pretty light on the angst to be honest but yea. here you go<br/>-<br/>i'm demonicneonfishy on tumblr too if you wanna come say hi!! (or yell at me for the angst)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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